Good Quot;to Be Or Not To Be" Review Movie Review Example

Ernst Lubitsch (1942): To be or not to be
Ernst Lubitsch, a Jewish-German, directed the film to be or not to be in 1942 together with Jack Benny, and Carole Lombard, who act the couple Torra. This is a couple of actors who had led a theatre team in Warsaw and were busy in rehearsing an anti-Nazi play a time when Germans had invaded Poland. In the film, the group becomes an active secretive participant and through their costumes they manage to deceive the Nazis together with their cooperators. The film illustrates the Nazis racism and violence instead of the military aggression. This is one source of the films effectiveness that is analyzed in this essay - the misleading cunning of evil.
The opening of the film depicts a stirring montage that details the rise of Anti-Semitism in Poland. Initially, it corresponds to the reports on the March festivity of Polish-Jewish culture. It further morphs into powerful documentary-styled description of Nazi suppression of Poland, more predominantly the Jewish people. The sequence fundamentally presents a terrifying, darkly funny narrative of Hitler arriving in the Jewish settlement in Warsaw with a plan to pursue stuff in one of the delis (ridiculous and absurd given Hitler’s racism and hatred of Jews).
It is startling how the Polish theater star Jack Benny emerges to be the improbable resistance hero when he acts as a Nazi spy in a mission to save his troupe. Notably, self effacing Benny together with Carole Lombard appears as unlikely duo. However, onscreen, their two stuck-up hams are innate match for each other – a natural pair that fits in all rights scenes. Evidently, their marriage is barely perfect though there is an insinuation of real devotion even as Carole plays around with flings wittily. A young Robert Stack does not have any command but his youthful confidence, gee-whiz patriotism and social naiveté compel his force officer a hero.
Arguably, from the moment America joined the warfare, the entire Hollywood recruited itself to bring out an image that German-Nazi were enemy. It is clear that all films produced during this period ended to generalize and stereotype. This was part of anti-German propaganda campaign that presented the dichotomy between two varying worlds. The west for its naiveté and enlightenment and the German for its cunning and monstrosity that laid hidden under a façade of cultural and technological efficiency.
The film then continues to reveal how and why Hitler visited Warsaw using some renowned pieces of screenwriting in the movie history. Notably, it’s a gleaming and almost appalling turn that leads the viewer to the narratives chief setting and also provides the answer to the question that arises. Arguably, the opening minutes of the film signals an incredibly unique narrative and does not shy away from the prevailing political realities in Europe like many other films on that time (WWII). Contemporary, such politics are taken for granted in popular narratives. Lubitsch’s film is shot on the cusp of America joining the war effort officially. He was not able to secure the backing of the studios and he turned into more daring British film industry to continue with his endeavors. A mention that the film would have stunned the audience is sarcasm. Most of its first audiences were astonished and its subsequent decades this film stood the test of time.
Evidently, German representation in the film is fascinating, because the Nazis have been demonstrated to be nice. Their pathetic situation and stammered language is actually humorous, since they were not aware of the actual situation of the territories they occupied. Nevertheless, the film contributes to seek for public opinion on supporting the war since it makes the underground very renounced through Jack Benny and Carole Lombard. In the film, the support of the underground depicts the approval to the goals of the war and definitely one of the characters in the underground scene is the polish pilot who falls in love with Lombard. The pilot serves in the British RAF and thereafter becomes an agent of the underground. He recruits theatre people to their cause.
Arguably, the manner in which Lubitsch chose to express his thoughts regarding the Nazi is provocative though humorous. For example, he offers salvation through art; apparently, art is the glue that brings together theatre group. The film is open to numerous debates and criticism though it provides a real picture of the Nazism than most pictures, films and Novels.
Lubitsch storytelling is unique; it blends several unlike strands from the genre of comedies. The film is filled with satire since it is a madcap screwball comedy. To some extent it is a romantic comedy which narrates of a love story involving a triangle that serve to fight the Nazi. Nonetheless, it also explores the difference between sheer infatuation, and respect and deeply-seeded mature love. The film is also about artists’ commitment in wartime. Arguably, a wrong move or a bad performance by the actors could consequent death and even threaten the effort in the polish underground war. Eventually, though Lubitsch film is a comedy about the Nazi which is set against the backdrop of the Jewish settlement in Warsaw; it portray how Nazi were i.e. mind-numbingly moronic and dangerous. This kind of Nazi’s portrayal pre-dates Stalag by Billy Wilder.
All the members of the cast give it their all. Carole Lombard is depicted to be untouchable, sharp, passionate, sexy and funny. She is portrayed to have no boundaries and as an unparalleled freewheeling, insanely, rip roaring, nutty dervish. On the other hand, Jack Benny infiltrates Gestapo headquarters, he portray pure comic genius. He acts as an actor acting as a Nazi. Accordingly, the Warsaw love triangle has enough sparks that could have enabled Lubitsch to produce a whole film, but he incorporated the Nazi invasion. After a quick scene, Warsaw becomes occupied with dissident fighting tough and pilots who had esc aped to England manning planes in the Polish Squadron. Another fast plot comes up where in an espionage film that the Turas have to corroborate with Sobinski top stop a traitor from delivering a list naming people to the Gestapo in the underground. To succeed, a convoluted scheme is concocted, filled with mistaken identities, bad acting and duplicity.
Notably, such quick transitions from backstage travesty to cloak-and-dagger mechanics, and wartime drama could have ended up in a filthy mess of a film. However, while there were several tonal inconsistencies example; how all the Germans, Poland and Brits in the films seemed to speak the same accent free language, Lubitsch somehow is able to lampoon the Nazis who always seems to be breaking to “Heil Hitler” anytime there was a break in conversation. They did so without reducing the depth of their malevolence. During the time of the film, the world was at war, anti-Semitism was the crucial driving force for the Germans. While the role of Allied Force was the major concern, several artists endangered and/or sacrificed their lives for the war effort. Demonstrably, Carole Lombard did not get a chance to watch the finished product. Just two months before the release of the film she died in a plane crash. She was on her thirty third year and was on her way to presiding over War Bonds drive. This film exposes racism among the Nazis as a demon that had grown among the brainwashed youth.
Apparent ethnicity can be one of the stumbling blocks for the modern viewer. The typical Americans Benny and Lombard did not read as Polish citizens and a brawny young Robert who is the third corner of the love triangle does not seem Polish. Nonetheless, Lubitsch wanted characters that a modern American would easily identify and sympathize with. This meant Carole skulking about in shiny gowns while Jack Benny in curmudgeon mode. Accordingly, what really stood out in the film and what developed a lot of backlash is that it made fun about things that were grave and not supposed to be used in jokes. Notably, Hitler gets lampooned in first few minutes. The film brings out jokes about the mass murder of the polish and the comic possibilities of the phrase “Heil Hitler” are extensively explored. Regrettably, Nazis are depicted and deeply flawed humans doing monstrous activities. This was in bad taste with wartime.
Other than the satirical aspect of the narrative and the manner in which Hitler and the Nazis have been hardheartedly mocked for their authoritarianism and the fear which is their only motivation, Lubitsch in the film to be or not to be pokes gentle fun in the vanity of actors warmly and in a happy manner. Conclusively, the most important aspect in the film is the notion of farce. Obviously, mockery rarely works in films, but in Lubitsch work it does in a very perfect way. Example is the many times and situation about professor Siletsky changed strongly in the film. It is confusing yet the character manages to bring about new schemes on all occasions.